Thursday, January 27, 2011

Usually when there's a major snowstorm, such as the one pounding the east coast, things get cancelled. School activities, meetings, postal service, basketball games. Except in the case of the Towson/George Mason game.

The Towson basketball team was caught in traffic for 10 hours and missed the scheduled 7 p.m. tipoff against George Mason. Officials delayed the game for a 9 p.m. start and Towson's team bus moved a mere 10 yards in that time frame. The Tigers arrived in Manassas, Va. around 1 a.m. There goes a good night's sleep. So they played the game today. Towson fell to George Mason 84-58 in a game that should've been rescheduled.

Director of athletic communications Pete Schlehr believed that leaving at 3 p.m. for the 70 mile drive was sufficient enough time to beat the forces of nature. He was wrong about that and having federal workers released two hours early didn't help their cause.

The Colonial Athletic Association didn't think it was enough time either. The league figured the school should've taken a more proactive stance with their travel plans. The Tigers were reprimanded for missing tipoff.

“While everyone understands travel complications with winter storms, there is no evidence that any consideration was made by Towson to adjust their normal travel plans to account for the anticipated problems,” CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager said in a statement.

What Mr. Yeager forgets are that these kids are student athletes. I know they really aren't, but that's what they'll tell us. They have to get everyone on the same page for travel and 3 p.m. seemed sufficient. So you reprimand them because they were snowed in by the forces of nature. That just doesn't add up to me. Weather forecasts are wrong all the the time and the snow probably hit sooner than expected. But you're the commish which makes you right.

Coach Pat Kennedy provided the comic relief. He thought it would be smart to lay under a bus tire thinking it would help gain traction to a highway ramp. That was a bad idea as the bus remained stuck and Kennedy's coat was torn to pieces. At least the players took everyhting in stride.